Grim Sleeper Lonnie Franklin

Aug 1 2011

Lonnie Franklin Jr.

LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Prosecutors will seek the death penalty against the man suspected in the “Grim Sleeper” serial killings, a deputy district attorney announced today.

A jury will be asked to recommend a death sentence for 58-year-old Lonnie Franklin Jr. if he is convicted, Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman said. Franklin has been indicted on 10 counts of murder and one count of attempted murder.

Franklin, a one-time city employee, has been locked up since his July 7, 2010, arrest.

Gregg Reese  |   OW Staff Writer
Dec 23 2010

LAPD failed to observe “due diligence”

The release last week of 160 photographs taken from the home of suspected Grim Sleeper Lonnie David Franklin Jr. was followed by complaints by his attorney that the Los Angeles Police Department failed to observe “due diligence” by not carefully screening the pictures before submitting them to the public.

Dec 16 2010

Unidentified individuals

LOS ANGELES, Calif.—More than 100 photographs of unidentified individuals found in connection with the arrest of the suspect in the "Grim Sleeper'' killings will be released by the Los Angeles Police Department Thursday with the hope they can be identified.

The photographs were found in a search of the possessions of Lonnie David Franklin Jr., following his arrest July 8 on suspicion of killing of at least 10 young women and one man in South Los Angeles between 1985 and 2007.

Gregg Reese  |   OW Staff Writer
Nov 18 2010

More victims likely as task force sifts through evidence

Although Lonnie Franklin, the defendant in the Grim Sleeper murders that plagued South Los Angeles over the past two decades, has been in custody for more than three months, the “800” Task Force charged with solving the carnage is still embroiled in the investigation, according to Bill Fallon, one of the eight officers assigned to the investigative unit. The detective granted Our Weekly an interview in between treks to Mississippi and Northern California to tie up loose ends in this ever-expanding multiple homicide case.

Across Black America

Here’s a look at African American people and issues making headlines throughout the country.
 

Alabama
Freeman A. Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, will address the annual African American Business Council luncheon on June 28. Hrabowski, who is chairman of President Barack Obama’s Advisory Commission on Education Excellence for African Americans, has a national reputation for his work studying the performance of minority students in math and science. Hrabowski, named one of the 10 best college presidents in the country by Time magazine, was a child leader in the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham in the 1960s.
 

Arkansas
The Liberty Counsel filed a motion and a brief in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas seeking to intervene on behalf of a Concepts of Life crisis pregnancy center to defend against a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Reproductive Rights. The groups seek to impose a permanent injunction before the Human Heartbeat Protection Act goes into effect July 18. Liberty Counsel also filed a brief opposing the ACLU’s request for an injunction. The “Heartbeat” bill states that when a woman seeks an abortion at or after the 12th week, doctors must test for a fetal heartbeat before an abortion is performed and inform the pregnant mother that the child in her womb has a heartbeat. If a heartbeat is detected, a woman cannot have an abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, and if a mother’s life is in danger. “As we promised when the legislation was introduced, Liberty Counsel will defend this law without reservation for the people of Arkansas, born and pre-born,” said Matt Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel. “No right is more foundational than the right to life. Without life, all other rights are irrelevant,” concluded Staver.